General

The think tank, Centre has issued a 4 part report on the state of mental health in the country. The findings are not positive with some segments suffering more than others. Aziff Azuddin, The Centre's Policy Researcher tells us why.

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The latest report by Oxford Economics on the economic outlook of 6 ASEAN economies (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines) revealed that that recovery will be delayed but not derailed. We ask Sian Fenner, Lead Asia Economist from Oxford Economics which country would perform better this year and which sectors will continue to struggle.

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We ask Tony Nash, CEO, Complete Intelligence on his opinions of meme stocks and what might the Fed do? We also talk about oil prices and inflation in China as China’s Producer Price Index surged to its highest since 2008.

By The Way is a rapid-fire segment that gives you a snapshot of developing stories in the music world. This week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has just signed a new post-mortem right of publicity law and this law protects the rights of personalities and performers for 40 years after their death. Prominent music luminaries joined forces to sign a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pleading for better remuneration for artists and writers, the campaign calls for an amendment to an old revenue stream for artists. Lastly, updates for Apple Music subscribers, Apple confirmed the arrival of lossless format, and spatial audio that uses Dolby Atmos surround sound technology at the recent Apple WWDC keynote.

Have you ever wondered how karaoke spots obtain their library of songs without the vocals? The technology of audio splitting enables isolating vocals or instruments from a song using specific software. However, with the advancement of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), the process can be done more effectively. Although there is still room for improvement, this is definitely good news for creatives. What does the future of this piece of tech look like? Producer Afnan Rahman joins us to share his thoughts on AI tech and its accessibility.

IMAGE SOURCE: LALAL.AI

It has been five months since Myanmar's military coup and the grave situation persists as daily clashes continue to spread across the country. In these bleak times, Yangon's Rebel Riot is steadfast in their fight for democracy, told firmly through their politically charged punk songs. The band's frontman and founder Kyaw Kyaw gives us a glimpse of this never ending struggle for peace, while also discussing the strength of music as a form of defiance.

IMAGE SOURCE: Al Jazeera

On this week's show, we have Ezra Tan, the founder of Kairos Agriculture, the company behind Penang's first smart vanilla farm. He shares the story behind Kairos, how the farm marry technology and agriculture to promote the growth of their vanilla plants, and discuss the laborious, attentive process behind planting vanilla in Malaysia.

IMAGE SOURCE: Kairos Agriculture

In the news this week, we discuss Great Wall Motor's purchase of a former General Motors car plant in Rayong, Thailand, and Geely's futuristic new design concept called the Vision Starburst.

As for car launches, we discuss the all-new, all-electric BMW i4, the KIA Sportage, two new Compact Trucks in the form of a Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick, and the RM2.1 million (w/o tax) Ferrari SF90 Spider.

Finally, our Used Car Review looks at the Honda HR-V and how impressive it remains - even as a used example.

No one thought this year's sleeper hit would be a cartoon on Amazon Prime, but here we are. Based on the Image Comics series by Robert Kirkman, Invincible is the story of Mark Grayson (Steven Yuen) finally coming into his superpowers. He's also the son of the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), and things are not as simple or as innocent as they seem. We review the ultra-violent first season of Invincible and discuss its deconstruction of the superhero genre, its star-studded cast, and our anticipation of what's coming next.

With our daily Covid-19 positive cases declining in the past few days, experts have pointed out that testing efforts are also decreasing. We speak to Dr Lim Chee Han to understand this relationship and the importance of testing in our battle against Covid-19.

Image Source: Mufid Majnun, Unsplash